Homily: Christ the King

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: to some degree I think the title of today’s feast day could miss the mark of its original purpose and design. For did you ever notice, nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus say to worship him, much less as a king – he simply said to follow him and to do as he does. The best description of all of this, across all the Gospels, appears in today’s reading of Matthew’s recording of Jesus’ last discourse which indicates kinship seems to be more important that kingship. What does that look like?  Check it out…

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Homily: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Biblical scholars tell us that this Parable of the Ten Virgins was likely cobbled together from a few sources meant to drive home the message of always being prepared – a Gospel theme we will hear often between now and Christmas. But was does that mean to you and me?  What does being prepared look like? And tapping into one of today’s Gospel metaphors, what is the oil that we need to be placing in our lamps?  Check it out…

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Homily: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

For the past few weeks, we have been listening to Jesus telling parables to the Chief Priests and Pharisees.  For Jesus is attempting to get their attention to think differently, choose differently and to open their eyes to his teachings of the Kingdom of God. But they show no interest in listening to his teachings about love and compassion, much less inclusion.  Thus, they look to corner Jesus into committing a crime of sedition and thus be crucified, by putting the question to Jesus if taxes should be paid to Caesar or not.

Perhaps a way to phrase this question in the present time would be: is our allegiance with the spiritual or the worldly?  Where is our focus today?  Since this story appears in all three Synoptic Gospels, this story carries a deeper and more significant message than a Gospel about just paying taxes. What is that hidden meaning?  Check it out…

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Homily: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Before I get into this weekend’s homily – my apologies, as it seems that the blog software made a change months ago which prevented my work from being sent to you!  So, feel free to roam on back to see what you missed – and hope you will stay connected!

Meanwhile…

This Sunday we heard the conclusion of the Gospel story that began last week when Jesus said he would build his Church upon the rock of Peter. But a few lines later Jesus calls Peter, ‘Satan’ and he is told to get behind Christ and follow him. So how did Peter get it so right to the point where Jesus will use Peter as the foundation of his Church and then in the next moment Peter gets it so wrong as to be called Satan? The answer and, indeed our lesson, is rooted in the two types of thinking that we face every day. What are they? How do we distinguish them?  Check it out…

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Homily: Sixth Sunday of Easter

 

The Surgeon General of the US, Dr. Vivek Murthy, just announced the ending of COVID-19 as a global emergency. But at the same time declared a new number one epidemic in our country today – one that affects 50 % of our population, and even higher for our kids.  What is it? And how does the Gospel reading from John this Sunday help us solve it?  Check it out…

Click here for a podcast of the homily

Click here for the text of the homily

Click here for the readings of today

Click here for the interview of Krista Tippett with Dr. Vivek Murthy